Quebec, Vt. Call For Flood Task Force

An aerial view of flooding on the Richelieu River in May. The river is the outlet for floods on Lake Champlain.

(Host) Political
leaders in Vermont and Quebec are calling for the creation of an international task
force to recommend ways to reduce flooding in Lake Champlain.

Governor
Peter Shumlin says the effort is needed because there's no question in his mind
that climate change will bring more precipitation to the region in the coming
years.

VPR's Bob Kinzel reports:

(Kinzel) The
project is a collaboration between Governor Shumlin and Quebec Premier Jean
Charest. They're asking the
International Joint Commission to appoint a special task force to research ways
to reduce flood damage near Lake
Champlain and the Richelieu River.

They
also plan to hold a conference in Burlington this fall to look at new scientific initiatives that
are used in other parts of the country to control flood damage.

As
a result of massive flooding this spring, the water level of Lake Champlain hit an all time high.
Shumlin noted that the level today is 8 feet below the new record set in
late May.

(Shumlin) "The question is what can we learn? We
know that while our efforts were extraordinary we had some environmental
impacts that we would never want to see happen again. We had municipal sewage
systems that we leaking into rivers and then feeding into the Lake. We had
other challenges that we wouldn't want to repeat."

(Markowitz) "When we think about flood resiliency
the goal is to slow the water down so that it can infiltrate so rather than
going into surfaces waters that it goes down into the ground. Where you saw the
greatest problem were areas that there's a lot of impervious surface. A lot of
roof tops a lot of roads and parking lots you also saw problems in some of our
farm fields where the ditching went straight into tributary streams."

(Kinzel)
And Markowitz says there are some scientific tools that could help the state's
effort.

(Markowitz) "We need an adequate hydrologic model of
the Lake so that we know what a particular
development's impact will be on storm water. So we know what kind of
infrastructure needs to be put in place to slow down that storm water. We don't
have that tool now."

(Kinzel)
Governor Shumlin says solutions are needed because the torrential rain this
spring is "a sign of what lies ahead."

(Shumlin) "Now scientists can quarrel about how
often or how soon, but there's no question that we're moving to a wetter climate
in Vermont, in New York State, in Quebec that's going to have more violent
delivery of that water and in ways that were not common to New England in the
past and it's a challenge for us."

(Kinzel)
Shumlin says he's hopeful that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo will also be an
active participant in this project.